A fuel reformer is used for transforming a fuel, e.g. natural gas, into another fuel, known as reformed fuel (i.e. hydrogen gas). The fuel reformer supplies the hydrogen gas to combustion chambers (i.e. a pre-combustion chamber and a main combustion chamber) of an engine to support lean burn technology.
There exist various conventional techniques that control a supply of the reformed fuel into the combustion chambers. One such conventional technique includes a fuel reforming means in which a part of the hydrocarbon fuel is reformed into a mixture of decomposition and oxidation products, which is then introduced into cylinders of the engine. However, such technique may be unable to supply the reformed fuel in varying concentrations and/or proportions into the pre-combustion chamber and the main combustion chamber, and hence may not be viable.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,263,967 (hereinafter referred to as '967 reference), describes an internal combustion engine with auxiliary combustion chamber. The '967 reference describes the internal combustion engine that includes a main combustion chamber, an auxiliary combustion chamber, a fuel reforming unit, and a control unit. The auxiliary combustion chamber is configured and arranged to communicate with the main combustion chamber. The fuel reforming unit is configured and arranged to reform a fuel to produce a reformed gaseous fuel and a reformed liquid fuel. The control unit is configured to execute control such that the reformed gaseous fuel is supplied to the auxiliary combustion chamber when a first operating condition exists and the reformed liquid fuel is supplied to the main combustion chamber when a second operating condition exists.
However, in known solutions may be unable to ensure lean burn combustion in the engine, leading to inefficient and costly operations. Therefore, there is a need for an improved fuel reformer solution for multiple combustion chambers in the engine.